


A bet

by tveckling



Category: Romeo And Juliet - All Media Types
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-25
Updated: 2017-04-25
Packaged: 2018-10-24 02:11:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 974
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10731996
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tveckling/pseuds/tveckling
Summary: Ficlet written for my 2015 bentycutio collection, which I then managed to forget about. Benvolio and Mercutio have been arrested, now Tybalt must show that he is actually a competent lawyer.





	A bet

“This is utterly ridiculous.” Tybalt rubbed his face wearily, taking a short break in glaring at Benvolio and Mercutio who sat on a bench in front of him. One of the policemen who’d brought them in had gone off to wherever—Tybalt had been too angry to listen to his weak mumbling—but the other was still standing close by,  keeping an eye on them. Benvolio and Mercutio were still handcuffed and Tybalt hadn’t felt any need to try and convince anyone to uncuff them. “I left you two for less than ten minutes to go buy a present for Julia and I come back to find you being arrested. You’re being charged with assault and battery, disturbing the peace, and property damage with an added charge of contempt of the court for Mercutio—which I really don’t want to know the details about. What, in the name of everything holy, happened?”  
  
Mercutio was busy glaring at the two men on the other side of the station and completely ignored Tybalt. Benvolio, however, squirmed and tried his best to avoid Tybalt’s eyes. “It was a misunderstanding,” he said meekly.  
  
“Misunderstanding? Misunderstan- _are you kidding me_?” Tybalt took a deep breath and managed to talk instead of screaming as he wanted to. “I’m not surprised that Mercutio got in a fight, but I didn’t expect this from you, Benvolio. You hate fighting.”  
  
“It’s not that I hate it, it’s more that I think it’s stupid and there’s almost always a better way to resolve a conflict,” Benvolio shot back quickly, but then deflated at Tybalt’s look.  
  
“So tell me, why couldn’t _this_ conflict be resolved by some other means than you two fighting it out with some random guys in the middle of a crowded mall, crashing into a souvenir stand, and at one point bashing one of the guys’ heads against that same stand? There’s video! Everything was recorded!”  
  
“Oh god, there were children.” Benvolio groaned and hid his face in his hands.  
  
“Those fuckers deserved everything they got,” Mercutio said darkly, still staring across the room. He grinned darkly when one of the men accidentally locked eyes with him. “They let their mouths yap and should’ve expected the consequences. I warned them. Ben warned them, twice. If they talk the talk, they should walk the walk.”  
  
Tybalt shook his head. “ _You’re_ talking, but you’re not actually saying anything, which happens far too often. What. Happened?”  
  
“They talked shit, we told them to shut it, they refused, we fought,” Mercutio said shortly and crossed his arms with a huff, only wincing a little as he did.  
  
“Is that what you want me to say when your uncle gets here?” Tybalt took satisfaction in seeing Mercutio go pale. “Because you know they will call him, if they haven’t already. That might be just what that other cop went to do. And when police chief Escalus comes thundering in here, do you really want that to be your only defense?”  
  
“Oh god, he’s never going to stop shouting,” Mercutio mumbled and buried his face in his hands. Benvolio patted his shoulder sympathetically.  
  
“It’s not really his fault,” Benvolio said and ignored how Mercutio’s head shot up. “Or mine for that matter, okay? Its- do you remember that pro bono case Julia, eh, asked you to take a few months back?”  
  
“The bastard who beat his wife and children so badly they had to be hospitalized? Of course I remember, but he’s in jail so what’s that got to do with this?”  
  
“Apparently one of the guys over there is his brother—” Benvolio kept ignoring Mercutio’s tries to silence him “—and when you left us I overheard them. You might not have remembered him, but that guy clearly remembered the lawyer who put his brother in jail, and he and his friend were talking about teaching you a lesson. So we confronted them.” He shrugged and threw a helpless smile at Tybalt. “It was Mercutio who threw the first throw, but I’d say it’s under mitigating circumstances, wouldn’t you? I mean, if you’d only heard the shit they said about you-”  
  
Tybalt held up a hand and Benvolio trailed off. Mercutio was sullenly resting heavily against the wall, not meeting anyone’s eyes. “So what you’re saying is, you fought to protect me? To… save me?”  
  
Benvolio scratched his neck and fidgeted where he sat, the tops of his ears coloring under Tybalt’s scrutiny. “I guess… you could say that.”  
  
Tybalt frowned as he looked back over the room at his supposed assailants. “I could have handled it myself, you know that.”  
  
Mercutio snorted and leaned forward on his knees. “You’re a high-profile, hot-shot lawyer, dear. It’s not like-”  
  
“Mercutio!”  
  
Mercutio jumped and look around wildly. What little color had returned to his face disappeared again as he saw his uncle storming towards them. A whimper was heard from Benvolio as he tried to make himself smaller.  
  
Tyrant shook his head and sighed. “You did this for me, I guess, so I should at the very least talk to your uncle before he commits nepoticide.”  
  
Benvolio and Mercutio watched in awe how Tybalt calmly stood in the way of the enraged man and motioned for him to stop.  
  
Then they heard another raised voice shouting out, “Benvolio Montague!”  
  
Benvolio twitched and gripped Mercutio’s arm. “It’s my aunt!”  
  
“This is going to be a mess, isn’t it?” Mercutio said with a shocked expression. They watched the lady Montague storm over to Tybalt, who got something wild in his eyes as he spotted her.  
  
“Tybalt will handle it,” Benvolio said after a beat. “He’s a lawyer. He can do it.”  
  
“That, or he’ll join us in jail,” Mercutio commented. They kept watching for a while more. “My money’s on him going berserker.”  
  
“Ten bucks he keeps his cool.”  
  
“You’re on.”


End file.
